February 27, 2014

Twitter storm planned for Oscars

The Twitter Storm Before the OscarsI am #NotYourTonto, complementary to #NotYourMascot, references Gore Verbinski’s July 2013 movie The Lone Ranger, which has been nominated for best makeup in this year’s Academy Awards.

The hashtag will be used starting Saturday evening before the Oscars on Sunday to protest Johnny Depp’s depiction of Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s Native sidekick, as a poor example of how Hollywood is “playing Indian.”

The protest is being organized by Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, a group that started on Facebook to campaign against inappropriate Native images in the media, film and sports.

“There is a double standard regarding Native people and this dehumanizes us to our fellow Americans and reduces their actual knowledge of who we are today,” wrote Jacqueline Keeler, one of the group's members, in an email to ICTMN. “Very few of those engaging in Redface understand we are sovereign nations and this leads to confusion regarding public policy and funding for education and healthcare in our communities and the creation of bad laws and bad judicial decisions.”Comment: For more on a related Twitter storm, see Inside #NotYourMascot and Twitter Storm Against "Redskins."